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ssam (literally, ssam means wrapping.) is easy to prepare and
simple to eat, and has long been known as a food of the common people. It has
been a favorite Korean cuisine since long times
ago. Koreans
eat ssam by putting rice on a green leafy vegetable, topping it with a special
soybean paste called ssamjang and wrapping the leaf around the whole mixture.
The most commonly used vegetable leaves are lettuce(sangchu) which is most used
, squash leaves(hobak-nip), young
Chinese cabbage leaves(bechun-nip), sesame leaves(dlkken-nip).. There are a
lot of
seasonal variations of ssam and seaweed is also sometimes used.
The
seasoning used for ssam might be soybean paste, red pepper paste or a combination of
soybean and red pepper paste and sesame oil. Other sauces used are ssam
gochujang (red pepper paste mixed with ground beef and sesame oil) and ssam
doenjang(soybean paste mixed with ground beef and pyogo mushrooms). The true
taste of ssam depends to a great extent on the seasonings used. The origin of
ssam can be traced back to the Three Kingdom Period (57 B.C-A.D 668), when
lettuce ssam was eaten. Some also use fresh garlic for seasonning, as a sliced.
Even today, lettuce ssam(sangchussam) is the most popular
among Koreans, who might also add parsley and thin green onions to the lettuce
leaf. One special type of ssam is called bokssam and is traditionally eaten on
the first full moon day of the lunar calendar. Koreans eat ssam on this day, but
now it is called bokssam, bok meaning fortune or luck and ssam meaning wrapping.
Therefore, you are wrapping your fortune and eating it, bringing luck for the
year. This was even more significant for Koreans of the past whose main
livelihood and staple food was rice, for the abstract concept of fortune became
materialized as rice.
Since this first full moon day came before the
beginning of the year's farming, it also came to represent a prayer for a good
harvest. Another type of ssam is called gujeolpan and is made of small wheat
pancakes wrapped around slices of vegetables and meat. As opposed to other types
of ssam, gujeolpan was mainly a dish for the upper classes and royalty.
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